some said that he had been found at a church door[1].
These men, being among the richest of the colonists
of Panama, proposed to themselves to enrich and aggrandize
themselves by means of discovering new countries,
and to do important service to the emperor, Don Carlos
V. by extending his dominions. Having received
permission from Pedro Arias de Avila[2], who then
governed that country, Francisco Pizarro fitted out
a vessel with considerable difficulty, in which he
embarked with 114 men. About fifty leagues from
Panama, he discovered a small and poor district, named
Peru, from which that name has been since improperly
extended to all the country afterwards discovered
along that coast to the south for more than 1200 leagues.
Beyond that Peru, he discovered another district, to
which the Spaniards gave the name of
El Pueblo
quemado, or the
Burnt People. The
Indians of that country made war upon him with so much
obstinacy, and killed so many of his men, that he
was constrained to retreat to
Chinchama or
Chuchama, not far from Panama.
In the mean time, Almagro fitted out another vessel
at Panama, in which he embarked with 70 men, and went
along the coast in search of Pizarro as far as the
river San Juan, a hundred leagues from Panama.
Not finding him there, Almagro returned along the
coast to the Pueblo quemado, where, from certain
indications of Pizarro having been there, he landed
with his men. The Indians, puffed up with the
remembrance of the victory they had gained over Pizarro,
attacked Almagro with great courage, and did him considerable
injury; and one day they even penetrated the entrenchment
he had thrown up for defence, through some negligence
in the guards, and put the Spaniards to flight, who
were forced to retreat with loss to their vessel and
put to sea, on which occasion Almagro lost an eye.
Following the shore on the way back towards Panama,
Almagro found Pizarro at Chinchama[3]. Pizarro
was much pleased by the junction of Almagro, as by
means of his men, and some additional soldiers they
procured in Chinchama, they had now a force of two
hundred Spaniards. They accordingly recommenced
the expedition, endeavouring to sail down the coast
to the southwards in two vessels and three large canoes.
In this navigation they suffered great fatigue from
contrary winds and currents, and were much incommoded
when they attempted to land in any of the numerous
small rivers which fall into the South Sea, as they
all swarmed at their mouths with large lizards, or
alligators, called caymans by the natives. These
animals, are ordinarily from twenty to twenty-five
feet long, and kill either men or beasts when in the
water. They come out of the water to lay their
eggs, which they bury in great numbers in the sand,
leaving them to be hatched by the heat of the sun.
These caymans have a strong resemblance to the crocodiles
of the river Nile. The Spaniards suffered much
from hunger in this voyage, as they could find nothing
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